Frogwife
"Knife goes in, guts come out. Knife goes in, guts come out. Say... have you heard the news of Madam de Verre? They say her son has ten fingers... but not five per hand..." Basic (BotD) Frogwives are a common sight in Mousillon’s villages. They take the buckets of snails and frogs caught by the village Swampaires (often their husbands, sons, or fathers) and gut them long into the evening. A Frogwife is not only an expert at the gutting and cleaning of frogs and snails, but also forms a crucial part of a village’s social structure. Frogwives tend to be relatively knowledgeable about the surrounding world, sometimes being permitted to leave the village for short periods of time to find useful herbs or other essentials from neighbouring villages. Some Frogwives are experts in the use of herbs, folk medicine, or some other esoteric but useful pursuit. It is a rare Frogwife who does not know the majority of what is going on in her village, and Frogwives have a deserved reputation as gossips, storytellers, and the originators of many strange superstitions. A Frogwife is almost always a woman, and it is a great shame for a man to labour at the swamp bucket. With your GM’s permission, when rolling your starting career you can substitute Frogwife for Camp Follower. Main Profile Secondary Profile Skills: Common Knowledge (any one), Evaluate, Gossip, Haggle, Perception, Search, Trade (Cook) Talents: Dealmaker, Hardy or Rover, Stout-hearted, Streetwise Trappings: Entrails bucket, frog guts, snail shells, sharp knife Career Entries Bone Picker, Camp Follower, Peasant Career Exits Boatman, Bone Picker, Camp Follower, Swampaire, Grail Pilgrim, Herrimault, Servant, Tradesman, Vagabond, Village Elder A Day In The Life The Frogwife’s day begins almost as her husband’s ends. He dumps his day’s catch – hopefully a large one – into her bucket and turns to take a desperately needed slumber. She then does what she must, gutting the frogs, snails and other swamp vermin, culling the very best parts for sale, saving just enough of what’s left to make stew or dried meats for her family, and turning the rest into fertilizer for the small garden which she maintains without telling the local lord. When she has cut up enough to make it worth the trip, the frogwife will take what she has into the nearest hamlet, to hawk it to passers by and, more importantly, to exchange information. The market hours see the frogwives carrying on two conversations almost simultaneously – a constant stream of patter with potential customers, and an equally constant stream of gossip, rumour and innuendo which carries information from one end of Mousillon to the other. When the day is done, she returns home. There will be, usually, an hour or so when both she and her husband are awake and together. This is when they will share a single meal (made with the leftovers from her earlier work), and, sometimes, the marriage bed. Then she returns to her sleep and he to his gathering. Little Known Facts A “frogwife’s garden” is a common term used to refer to any small, productive plot which doesn’t look as if it is. Such gardens grow root vegetables, useful herbs and other plants, but appear to the untrained eye to be just patches of weeds and grass. Hedge wizards, wise women and the like sometimes call on frogwives to provide them with truly exotic and useful plants. Because frogwives roam relatively freely outside their villages to gather herbs and the like, they are often the most knowledgable about surrounding lands, including places hidden or forgotten. While most of what they may think they know is rubbish, a cunning man can learn much if he can get a respected and elderly frogwife to discuss anything odd she might have seen on her travels.